1 This is ../../../findutils/doc/find.info, produced by makeinfo version
2 4.13 from ../../../findutils/doc/find.texi.
4 INFO-DIR-SECTION Basics
6 * Finding files: (find). Operating on files matching certain criteria.
9 INFO-DIR-SECTION Individual utilities
11 * find: (find)Invoking find. Finding and acting on files.
12 * locate: (find)Invoking locate. Finding files in a database.
13 * updatedb: (find)Invoking updatedb. Building the locate database.
14 * xargs: (find)Invoking xargs. Operating on many files.
17 This file documents the GNU utilities for finding files that match
18 certain criteria and performing various operations on them.
20 Copyright (C) 1994, 1996, 1998, 2000, 2001, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006,
21 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
23 Permission is granted to copy, distribute and/or modify this document
24 under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License, Version 1.3 or
25 any later version published by the Free Software Foundation; with no
26 Invariant Sections, with no Front-Cover Texts, and with no Back-Cover
27 Texts. A copy of the license is included in the section entitled "GNU
28 Free Documentation License".
31 File: find.info, Node: GNU Free Documentation License, Next: Primary Index, Prev: Error Messages, Up: Top
33 Appendix A GNU Free Documentation License
34 *****************************************
36 Version 1.3, 3 November 2008
38 Copyright (C) 2000, 2001, 2002, 2007, 2008 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
41 Everyone is permitted to copy and distribute verbatim copies
42 of this license document, but changing it is not allowed.
46 The purpose of this License is to make a manual, textbook, or other
47 functional and useful document "free" in the sense of freedom: to
48 assure everyone the effective freedom to copy and redistribute it,
49 with or without modifying it, either commercially or
50 noncommercially. Secondarily, this License preserves for the
51 author and publisher a way to get credit for their work, while not
52 being considered responsible for modifications made by others.
54 This License is a kind of "copyleft", which means that derivative
55 works of the document must themselves be free in the same sense.
56 It complements the GNU General Public License, which is a copyleft
57 license designed for free software.
59 We have designed this License in order to use it for manuals for
60 free software, because free software needs free documentation: a
61 free program should come with manuals providing the same freedoms
62 that the software does. But this License is not limited to
63 software manuals; it can be used for any textual work, regardless
64 of subject matter or whether it is published as a printed book.
65 We recommend this License principally for works whose purpose is
66 instruction or reference.
68 1. APPLICABILITY AND DEFINITIONS
70 This License applies to any manual or other work, in any medium,
71 that contains a notice placed by the copyright holder saying it
72 can be distributed under the terms of this License. Such a notice
73 grants a world-wide, royalty-free license, unlimited in duration,
74 to use that work under the conditions stated herein. The
75 "Document", below, refers to any such manual or work. Any member
76 of the public is a licensee, and is addressed as "you". You
77 accept the license if you copy, modify or distribute the work in a
78 way requiring permission under copyright law.
80 A "Modified Version" of the Document means any work containing the
81 Document or a portion of it, either copied verbatim, or with
82 modifications and/or translated into another language.
84 A "Secondary Section" is a named appendix or a front-matter section
85 of the Document that deals exclusively with the relationship of the
86 publishers or authors of the Document to the Document's overall
87 subject (or to related matters) and contains nothing that could
88 fall directly within that overall subject. (Thus, if the Document
89 is in part a textbook of mathematics, a Secondary Section may not
90 explain any mathematics.) The relationship could be a matter of
91 historical connection with the subject or with related matters, or
92 of legal, commercial, philosophical, ethical or political position
95 The "Invariant Sections" are certain Secondary Sections whose
96 titles are designated, as being those of Invariant Sections, in
97 the notice that says that the Document is released under this
98 License. If a section does not fit the above definition of
99 Secondary then it is not allowed to be designated as Invariant.
100 The Document may contain zero Invariant Sections. If the Document
101 does not identify any Invariant Sections then there are none.
103 The "Cover Texts" are certain short passages of text that are
104 listed, as Front-Cover Texts or Back-Cover Texts, in the notice
105 that says that the Document is released under this License. A
106 Front-Cover Text may be at most 5 words, and a Back-Cover Text may
109 A "Transparent" copy of the Document means a machine-readable copy,
110 represented in a format whose specification is available to the
111 general public, that is suitable for revising the document
112 straightforwardly with generic text editors or (for images
113 composed of pixels) generic paint programs or (for drawings) some
114 widely available drawing editor, and that is suitable for input to
115 text formatters or for automatic translation to a variety of
116 formats suitable for input to text formatters. A copy made in an
117 otherwise Transparent file format whose markup, or absence of
118 markup, has been arranged to thwart or discourage subsequent
119 modification by readers is not Transparent. An image format is
120 not Transparent if used for any substantial amount of text. A
121 copy that is not "Transparent" is called "Opaque".
123 Examples of suitable formats for Transparent copies include plain
124 ASCII without markup, Texinfo input format, LaTeX input format,
125 SGML or XML using a publicly available DTD, and
126 standard-conforming simple HTML, PostScript or PDF designed for
127 human modification. Examples of transparent image formats include
128 PNG, XCF and JPG. Opaque formats include proprietary formats that
129 can be read and edited only by proprietary word processors, SGML or
130 XML for which the DTD and/or processing tools are not generally
131 available, and the machine-generated HTML, PostScript or PDF
132 produced by some word processors for output purposes only.
134 The "Title Page" means, for a printed book, the title page itself,
135 plus such following pages as are needed to hold, legibly, the
136 material this License requires to appear in the title page. For
137 works in formats which do not have any title page as such, "Title
138 Page" means the text near the most prominent appearance of the
139 work's title, preceding the beginning of the body of the text.
141 The "publisher" means any person or entity that distributes copies
142 of the Document to the public.
144 A section "Entitled XYZ" means a named subunit of the Document
145 whose title either is precisely XYZ or contains XYZ in parentheses
146 following text that translates XYZ in another language. (Here XYZ
147 stands for a specific section name mentioned below, such as
148 "Acknowledgements", "Dedications", "Endorsements", or "History".)
149 To "Preserve the Title" of such a section when you modify the
150 Document means that it remains a section "Entitled XYZ" according
153 The Document may include Warranty Disclaimers next to the notice
154 which states that this License applies to the Document. These
155 Warranty Disclaimers are considered to be included by reference in
156 this License, but only as regards disclaiming warranties: any other
157 implication that these Warranty Disclaimers may have is void and
158 has no effect on the meaning of this License.
162 You may copy and distribute the Document in any medium, either
163 commercially or noncommercially, provided that this License, the
164 copyright notices, and the license notice saying this License
165 applies to the Document are reproduced in all copies, and that you
166 add no other conditions whatsoever to those of this License. You
167 may not use technical measures to obstruct or control the reading
168 or further copying of the copies you make or distribute. However,
169 you may accept compensation in exchange for copies. If you
170 distribute a large enough number of copies you must also follow
171 the conditions in section 3.
173 You may also lend copies, under the same conditions stated above,
174 and you may publicly display copies.
176 3. COPYING IN QUANTITY
178 If you publish printed copies (or copies in media that commonly
179 have printed covers) of the Document, numbering more than 100, and
180 the Document's license notice requires Cover Texts, you must
181 enclose the copies in covers that carry, clearly and legibly, all
182 these Cover Texts: Front-Cover Texts on the front cover, and
183 Back-Cover Texts on the back cover. Both covers must also clearly
184 and legibly identify you as the publisher of these copies. The
185 front cover must present the full title with all words of the
186 title equally prominent and visible. You may add other material
187 on the covers in addition. Copying with changes limited to the
188 covers, as long as they preserve the title of the Document and
189 satisfy these conditions, can be treated as verbatim copying in
192 If the required texts for either cover are too voluminous to fit
193 legibly, you should put the first ones listed (as many as fit
194 reasonably) on the actual cover, and continue the rest onto
197 If you publish or distribute Opaque copies of the Document
198 numbering more than 100, you must either include a
199 machine-readable Transparent copy along with each Opaque copy, or
200 state in or with each Opaque copy a computer-network location from
201 which the general network-using public has access to download
202 using public-standard network protocols a complete Transparent
203 copy of the Document, free of added material. If you use the
204 latter option, you must take reasonably prudent steps, when you
205 begin distribution of Opaque copies in quantity, to ensure that
206 this Transparent copy will remain thus accessible at the stated
207 location until at least one year after the last time you
208 distribute an Opaque copy (directly or through your agents or
209 retailers) of that edition to the public.
211 It is requested, but not required, that you contact the authors of
212 the Document well before redistributing any large number of
213 copies, to give them a chance to provide you with an updated
214 version of the Document.
218 You may copy and distribute a Modified Version of the Document
219 under the conditions of sections 2 and 3 above, provided that you
220 release the Modified Version under precisely this License, with
221 the Modified Version filling the role of the Document, thus
222 licensing distribution and modification of the Modified Version to
223 whoever possesses a copy of it. In addition, you must do these
224 things in the Modified Version:
226 A. Use in the Title Page (and on the covers, if any) a title
227 distinct from that of the Document, and from those of
228 previous versions (which should, if there were any, be listed
229 in the History section of the Document). You may use the
230 same title as a previous version if the original publisher of
231 that version gives permission.
233 B. List on the Title Page, as authors, one or more persons or
234 entities responsible for authorship of the modifications in
235 the Modified Version, together with at least five of the
236 principal authors of the Document (all of its principal
237 authors, if it has fewer than five), unless they release you
238 from this requirement.
240 C. State on the Title page the name of the publisher of the
241 Modified Version, as the publisher.
243 D. Preserve all the copyright notices of the Document.
245 E. Add an appropriate copyright notice for your modifications
246 adjacent to the other copyright notices.
248 F. Include, immediately after the copyright notices, a license
249 notice giving the public permission to use the Modified
250 Version under the terms of this License, in the form shown in
253 G. Preserve in that license notice the full lists of Invariant
254 Sections and required Cover Texts given in the Document's
257 H. Include an unaltered copy of this License.
259 I. Preserve the section Entitled "History", Preserve its Title,
260 and add to it an item stating at least the title, year, new
261 authors, and publisher of the Modified Version as given on
262 the Title Page. If there is no section Entitled "History" in
263 the Document, create one stating the title, year, authors,
264 and publisher of the Document as given on its Title Page,
265 then add an item describing the Modified Version as stated in
266 the previous sentence.
268 J. Preserve the network location, if any, given in the Document
269 for public access to a Transparent copy of the Document, and
270 likewise the network locations given in the Document for
271 previous versions it was based on. These may be placed in
272 the "History" section. You may omit a network location for a
273 work that was published at least four years before the
274 Document itself, or if the original publisher of the version
275 it refers to gives permission.
277 K. For any section Entitled "Acknowledgements" or "Dedications",
278 Preserve the Title of the section, and preserve in the
279 section all the substance and tone of each of the contributor
280 acknowledgements and/or dedications given therein.
282 L. Preserve all the Invariant Sections of the Document,
283 unaltered in their text and in their titles. Section numbers
284 or the equivalent are not considered part of the section
287 M. Delete any section Entitled "Endorsements". Such a section
288 may not be included in the Modified Version.
290 N. Do not retitle any existing section to be Entitled
291 "Endorsements" or to conflict in title with any Invariant
294 O. Preserve any Warranty Disclaimers.
296 If the Modified Version includes new front-matter sections or
297 appendices that qualify as Secondary Sections and contain no
298 material copied from the Document, you may at your option
299 designate some or all of these sections as invariant. To do this,
300 add their titles to the list of Invariant Sections in the Modified
301 Version's license notice. These titles must be distinct from any
302 other section titles.
304 You may add a section Entitled "Endorsements", provided it contains
305 nothing but endorsements of your Modified Version by various
306 parties--for example, statements of peer review or that the text
307 has been approved by an organization as the authoritative
308 definition of a standard.
310 You may add a passage of up to five words as a Front-Cover Text,
311 and a passage of up to 25 words as a Back-Cover Text, to the end
312 of the list of Cover Texts in the Modified Version. Only one
313 passage of Front-Cover Text and one of Back-Cover Text may be
314 added by (or through arrangements made by) any one entity. If the
315 Document already includes a cover text for the same cover,
316 previously added by you or by arrangement made by the same entity
317 you are acting on behalf of, you may not add another; but you may
318 replace the old one, on explicit permission from the previous
319 publisher that added the old one.
321 The author(s) and publisher(s) of the Document do not by this
322 License give permission to use their names for publicity for or to
323 assert or imply endorsement of any Modified Version.
325 5. COMBINING DOCUMENTS
327 You may combine the Document with other documents released under
328 this License, under the terms defined in section 4 above for
329 modified versions, provided that you include in the combination
330 all of the Invariant Sections of all of the original documents,
331 unmodified, and list them all as Invariant Sections of your
332 combined work in its license notice, and that you preserve all
333 their Warranty Disclaimers.
335 The combined work need only contain one copy of this License, and
336 multiple identical Invariant Sections may be replaced with a single
337 copy. If there are multiple Invariant Sections with the same name
338 but different contents, make the title of each such section unique
339 by adding at the end of it, in parentheses, the name of the
340 original author or publisher of that section if known, or else a
341 unique number. Make the same adjustment to the section titles in
342 the list of Invariant Sections in the license notice of the
345 In the combination, you must combine any sections Entitled
346 "History" in the various original documents, forming one section
347 Entitled "History"; likewise combine any sections Entitled
348 "Acknowledgements", and any sections Entitled "Dedications". You
349 must delete all sections Entitled "Endorsements."
351 6. COLLECTIONS OF DOCUMENTS
353 You may make a collection consisting of the Document and other
354 documents released under this License, and replace the individual
355 copies of this License in the various documents with a single copy
356 that is included in the collection, provided that you follow the
357 rules of this License for verbatim copying of each of the
358 documents in all other respects.
360 You may extract a single document from such a collection, and
361 distribute it individually under this License, provided you insert
362 a copy of this License into the extracted document, and follow
363 this License in all other respects regarding verbatim copying of
366 7. AGGREGATION WITH INDEPENDENT WORKS
368 A compilation of the Document or its derivatives with other
369 separate and independent documents or works, in or on a volume of
370 a storage or distribution medium, is called an "aggregate" if the
371 copyright resulting from the compilation is not used to limit the
372 legal rights of the compilation's users beyond what the individual
373 works permit. When the Document is included in an aggregate, this
374 License does not apply to the other works in the aggregate which
375 are not themselves derivative works of the Document.
377 If the Cover Text requirement of section 3 is applicable to these
378 copies of the Document, then if the Document is less than one half
379 of the entire aggregate, the Document's Cover Texts may be placed
380 on covers that bracket the Document within the aggregate, or the
381 electronic equivalent of covers if the Document is in electronic
382 form. Otherwise they must appear on printed covers that bracket
387 Translation is considered a kind of modification, so you may
388 distribute translations of the Document under the terms of section
389 4. Replacing Invariant Sections with translations requires special
390 permission from their copyright holders, but you may include
391 translations of some or all Invariant Sections in addition to the
392 original versions of these Invariant Sections. You may include a
393 translation of this License, and all the license notices in the
394 Document, and any Warranty Disclaimers, provided that you also
395 include the original English version of this License and the
396 original versions of those notices and disclaimers. In case of a
397 disagreement between the translation and the original version of
398 this License or a notice or disclaimer, the original version will
401 If a section in the Document is Entitled "Acknowledgements",
402 "Dedications", or "History", the requirement (section 4) to
403 Preserve its Title (section 1) will typically require changing the
408 You may not copy, modify, sublicense, or distribute the Document
409 except as expressly provided under this License. Any attempt
410 otherwise to copy, modify, sublicense, or distribute it is void,
411 and will automatically terminate your rights under this License.
413 However, if you cease all violation of this License, then your
414 license from a particular copyright holder is reinstated (a)
415 provisionally, unless and until the copyright holder explicitly
416 and finally terminates your license, and (b) permanently, if the
417 copyright holder fails to notify you of the violation by some
418 reasonable means prior to 60 days after the cessation.
420 Moreover, your license from a particular copyright holder is
421 reinstated permanently if the copyright holder notifies you of the
422 violation by some reasonable means, this is the first time you have
423 received notice of violation of this License (for any work) from
424 that copyright holder, and you cure the violation prior to 30 days
425 after your receipt of the notice.
427 Termination of your rights under this section does not terminate
428 the licenses of parties who have received copies or rights from
429 you under this License. If your rights have been terminated and
430 not permanently reinstated, receipt of a copy of some or all of
431 the same material does not give you any rights to use it.
433 10. FUTURE REVISIONS OF THIS LICENSE
435 The Free Software Foundation may publish new, revised versions of
436 the GNU Free Documentation License from time to time. Such new
437 versions will be similar in spirit to the present version, but may
438 differ in detail to address new problems or concerns. See
439 `http://www.gnu.org/copyleft/'.
441 Each version of the License is given a distinguishing version
442 number. If the Document specifies that a particular numbered
443 version of this License "or any later version" applies to it, you
444 have the option of following the terms and conditions either of
445 that specified version or of any later version that has been
446 published (not as a draft) by the Free Software Foundation. If
447 the Document does not specify a version number of this License,
448 you may choose any version ever published (not as a draft) by the
449 Free Software Foundation. If the Document specifies that a proxy
450 can decide which future versions of this License can be used, that
451 proxy's public statement of acceptance of a version permanently
452 authorizes you to choose that version for the Document.
456 "Massive Multiauthor Collaboration Site" (or "MMC Site") means any
457 World Wide Web server that publishes copyrightable works and also
458 provides prominent facilities for anybody to edit those works. A
459 public wiki that anybody can edit is an example of such a server.
460 A "Massive Multiauthor Collaboration" (or "MMC") contained in the
461 site means any set of copyrightable works thus published on the MMC
464 "CC-BY-SA" means the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0
465 license published by Creative Commons Corporation, a not-for-profit
466 corporation with a principal place of business in San Francisco,
467 California, as well as future copyleft versions of that license
468 published by that same organization.
470 "Incorporate" means to publish or republish a Document, in whole or
471 in part, as part of another Document.
473 An MMC is "eligible for relicensing" if it is licensed under this
474 License, and if all works that were first published under this
475 License somewhere other than this MMC, and subsequently
476 incorporated in whole or in part into the MMC, (1) had no cover
477 texts or invariant sections, and (2) were thus incorporated prior
480 The operator of an MMC Site may republish an MMC contained in the
481 site under CC-BY-SA on the same site at any time before August 1,
482 2009, provided the MMC is eligible for relicensing.
485 ADDENDUM: How to use this License for your documents
486 ====================================================
488 To use this License in a document you have written, include a copy of
489 the License in the document and put the following copyright and license
490 notices just after the title page:
492 Copyright (C) YEAR YOUR NAME.
493 Permission is granted to copy, distribute and/or modify this document
494 under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License, Version 1.3
495 or any later version published by the Free Software Foundation;
496 with no Invariant Sections, no Front-Cover Texts, and no Back-Cover
497 Texts. A copy of the license is included in the section entitled ``GNU
498 Free Documentation License''.
500 If you have Invariant Sections, Front-Cover Texts and Back-Cover
501 Texts, replace the "with...Texts." line with this:
503 with the Invariant Sections being LIST THEIR TITLES, with
504 the Front-Cover Texts being LIST, and with the Back-Cover Texts
507 If you have Invariant Sections without Cover Texts, or some other
508 combination of the three, merge those two alternatives to suit the
511 If your document contains nontrivial examples of program code, we
512 recommend releasing these examples in parallel under your choice of
513 free software license, such as the GNU General Public License, to
514 permit their use in free software.
517 File: find.info, Node: Primary Index, Prev: GNU Free Documentation License, Up: Top
522 This is a list of all of the primaries (tests, actions, and options)
523 that make up `find' expressions for selecting files. *Note find
524 Expressions::, for more information on expressions.
529 * !: Combining Primaries With Operators.
531 * (): Combining Primaries With Operators.
533 * ,: Combining Primaries With Operators.
535 * -a: Combining Primaries With Operators.
537 * -amin: Age Ranges. (line 20)
538 * -and: Combining Primaries With Operators.
540 * -anewer: Comparing Timestamps.
542 * -atime: Age Ranges. (line 9)
543 * -cmin: Age Ranges. (line 21)
544 * -cnewer: Comparing Timestamps.
546 * -context: Mode Bits. (line 121)
547 * -ctime: Age Ranges. (line 10)
548 * -d: Directories. (line 29)
549 * -daystart: Age Ranges. (line 31)
550 * -delete: Delete Files. (line 7)
551 * -depth: Directories. (line 21)
552 * -empty: Size. (line 50)
553 * -exec <1>: Multiple Files. (line 26)
554 * -exec: Single File. (line 54)
555 * -execdir <1>: Multiple Files. (line 15)
556 * -execdir: Single File. (line 9)
557 * -executable: Mode Bits. (line 42)
558 * -false: Combining Primaries With Operators.
560 * -fls: Print File Information.
562 * -fprint: Print File Name. (line 13)
563 * -fprint0: Safe File Name Handling.
565 * -fprintf: Print File Information.
567 * -fstype: Filesystems. (line 22)
568 * -gid: Owner. (line 13)
569 * -group: Owner. (line 8)
570 * -ignore_readdir_race: Directories. (line 92)
571 * -ilname: Symbolic Links. (line 87)
572 * -iname: Base Name Patterns. (line 8)
573 * -inum: Hard Links. (line 41)
574 * -ipath: Full Name Patterns. (line 29)
575 * -iregex: Full Name Patterns. (line 60)
576 * -iwholename: Full Name Patterns. (line 30)
577 * -links: Hard Links. (line 53)
578 * -lname: Symbolic Links. (line 86)
579 * -ls: Print File Information.
581 * -maxdepth: Directories. (line 11)
582 * -mindepth: Directories. (line 16)
583 * -mmin: Age Ranges. (line 22)
584 * -mount: Filesystems. (line 15)
585 * -mtime: Age Ranges. (line 11)
586 * -name: Base Name Patterns. (line 7)
587 * -newer: Comparing Timestamps.
589 * -newerXY: Comparing Timestamps.
591 * -nogroup: Owner. (line 18)
592 * -noignore_readdir_race: Directories. (line 109)
593 * -noleaf: Directories. (line 77)
594 * -not: Combining Primaries With Operators.
596 * -nouser: Owner. (line 17)
597 * -o: Combining Primaries With Operators.
599 * -ok: Querying. (line 30)
600 * -okdir: Querying. (line 11)
601 * -or: Combining Primaries With Operators.
603 * -path: Full Name Patterns. (line 7)
604 * -perm: Mode Bits. (line 45)
605 * -print: Print File Name. (line 7)
606 * -print0: Safe File Name Handling.
608 * -printf: Print File Information.
610 * -prune: Directories. (line 34)
611 * -quit: Directories. (line 66)
612 * -readable: Mode Bits. (line 34)
613 * -regex: Full Name Patterns. (line 59)
614 * -regextype: Full Name Patterns. (line 76)
615 * -samefile: Hard Links. (line 36)
616 * -size: Size. (line 7)
617 * -true: Combining Primaries With Operators.
619 * -type: Type. (line 7)
620 * -uid: Owner. (line 12)
621 * -used: Comparing Timestamps.
623 * -user: Owner. (line 7)
624 * -wholename: Full Name Patterns. (line 8)
625 * -writable: Mode Bits. (line 37)
626 * -xdev: Filesystems. (line 14)
627 * -xtype: Type. (line 36)
628 * ago in date strings: Relative items in date strings.
630 * am in date strings: Time of day items. (line 22)
631 * day in date strings: Relative items in date strings.
633 * first in date strings: General date syntax. (line 28)
634 * fortnight in date strings: Relative items in date strings.
636 * hour in date strings: Relative items in date strings.
638 * last DAY: Day of week items. (line 15)
639 * last in date strings: General date syntax. (line 28)
640 * midnight in date strings: Time of day items. (line 22)
641 * minute in date strings: Relative items in date strings.
643 * month in date strings: Relative items in date strings.
645 * next DAY: Day of week items. (line 15)
646 * next in date strings: General date syntax. (line 28)
647 * noon in date strings: Time of day items. (line 22)
648 * now in date strings: Relative items in date strings.
650 * parse_datetime: Date input formats. (line 6)
651 * pm in date strings: Time of day items. (line 22)
652 * this in date strings: Relative items in date strings.
654 * today in date strings: Relative items in date strings.
656 * tomorrow in date strings: Relative items in date strings.
658 * week in date strings: Relative items in date strings.
660 * year in date strings: Relative items in date strings.
662 * yesterday in date strings: Relative items in date strings.
projects / platform / upstream / findutils.git / blob